In which brave Dahlia and Gregory ride TWO airplanes and our Cape Cod adventures begin.

We last left our tiny adventures in Florida. But very soon we packed up all our toys and books and watched them go on the big truck.

*For anyone who hasn't heard the nightmare that was our experience with Premiere Line Movers. I'll sum it up. They low balled the price on the phone to me on purpose. Then subcontracted the job out to another company owned by the brother of Premiere. They showed up late knowing we had a plane to catch. Jacked the price up and said if we didn't agree to the new price they were leaving. So we had to get the FL DA involved and lawyers and for a good week I thought I would never see any of our things again. But they did settle and finally deliver. And I hope we all learned a valuable lesson.

And if that wasn't enough... the second we got to the airport and checked our bags Dahlia threw up all over herself. It was very reminiscent of the trip down when she puked the first night in the car. Poor thing smelled like vomit all day. I guess crossing state lines is just too exciting for some people.

We missed our first flight and had to sit around for two hours and wait for the next one. Luckily Barry had his IPod and the kids had a dance party and an entire section of airport chairs to climb all over. Then we had to haul ass in Philly to make our connecting flight, only to find our flight was delayed due to some silly hurricane or some such nonsense. Here's Dahlia coloring at 11 at night with a little girl who only spoke Russian. Considering the whole ordeal that was that day the two kids kept it together pretty well.

Grampa Bill picked us up in Boston and brought our tired crew back to Gramma's house. We settled in there and stayed for a little over a month.

All our stuff got delivered there and we finally had more clothes and toys to keep the kids entertained. Barry hit the pavement looking for work and I got all our family things in order (ie. doctor's visits for me and the kids, health insurance).

We also visited with family and friends. Here we are at Nana and Bumpa's. I call this his James Dean photo.

Between the kid's they've been to Princesses on Ice, Edeville Railroad, the Zooquariam, and playgrounds a plenty. Not to mention a birthday party for Ron, a bridal shower for Darcie, a wedding for TJ and Krystal, and we're going to Darcie and Ron's wedding this weekend. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This is my husband poking a Bobcat with a stick.... can we say good role model?

And of course there was lots of snuggling. Dahlia is also doing very well with her potty training. Even though we've moved on to Barry's mom's house she's still going strong. We're using a sticker reward system.

Tune in next time for a visit from the NH Haighs and pictures of our new house.

Back in my blog saddle.

Hello readers. I know it's been a while and I'm sorry to starve you of cute pictures of my children but things have been pretty crazy. They haven't really calmed down yet, but since we finally got Barry's computer online I can bring you all up to date. It may take a few posts, and it may be the quicky version so bare with me.

We left off with Dahlia's Birthday week long present opening extraaaa vaaa gaaaanzaaaa.

Here are a a few more. I really can't remember everything she got or who sent it at this point. But thank you every one. Dahlia loved all her gifts and getting all that mail didn't suck either.

At some point just before we left Florida the kids and I had another very nice stay at Russ and Jody's. Here's Mr Curly Q. riding a duck at the playground.


Also during that visit I showed Emily how to make friendship bracelets. Her excellent craftsmanship is displayed on top in a bracelet she made for Dahlia. Dahlia has it tied to the zipper of her Tinker Bell back pack. And the bottom one I made for Emily.




Another highlight of that visit was my first encounter with Lox. Very tasty. I even enjoyed it with the raw onion which is not something I'm usually a fan of.

A few days later everything came to a head and we made the decision to move back to Cape Cod. We are so happy to feel at "home" again (even though we aren't in a place of our own yet. more on that later), but we do miss all the family and few friends we met in Florida.

We all want to wish Ms. Emily a VERY happy twelfth birthday tomorrow. We are thinking of you and we miss you tons!

That's all I have time for today.

Dahlia-pallooza Week Part One

Ok. Waaaayy behind on the posts. I know. Dahlia's Birthday was over three weeks ago. And a lot of things have happened since then. These are a few pictures I uploaded before the computer got packed up and we moved back to the Cape (yeah!).

More on all of that later. I'll try to go in order. First is the birthday cake I made for Dahlia. Not very fancy. I was playing with the letter stencils in my cake decorating kit.

Here's one of Gregory sporting a purple frosting moo-stash.

And my dainty Birthday girl forcing her pink cupcake into her face-hole.

The first of many presents to arrive in the mail for Dahlia. This doll house from Nana and Bumpa made me a little green with envy.
1. I never had a doll house this cool when I was little.
2. I may never own a house this nice in my adult life.

....sometimes I play with it during nap time.

But here's proof that I let her play with it too. And she's been sharing very well with Gregory.

Uncle Josh, Aunt Julie and cousin Zoe sent some beautiful outfits from Old Navy. I think the butterfly shirt is my personal favorite. Dahlia prefers the pinky/orange dress in the middle.

I leave you with my ever growing belly to contemplate the gender of the beast within. Some people think they can tell based on how high or low your belly sits.
Fancy a guess?

My Little Girl Turns Three Today!!!!

August 10th 2006... everything changed.

I love you sweetpea. You're growing up so fast.

Happy Birthday Dahlia!

Dead things, soapy things, and squirmy things.

I found a tiny dead frog in my bathroom this morning. It wasn't there when I got up to get Barry off to work at 4:30. I find it slightly more disturbing than seeing the occasional rouge cockroach out of the corner of my eye, because the mystery of this dead frog raises so many questions for me;

1.) Where was it hiding out when it was alive, and why did I never see it alive?

2.) What was it's cause of death? (and where might that be hiding out?)

3.) When should I be expecting a rain of locus?

In other news, I finally bathed the children last night. I realize that this is a regular if not daily occurrence for most mothers, but not any that I'm friends with. It's hard enough trying to wash dishes with a volleyball under your shirt, and the dishes don't try to get away. So once in a while when I'm feeling ambitious/crazy I announce to the house hold that whomever finishes their supper can get in the washa-tub later. Yes, it's become a special treat. Don't judge me.

I tried to get the shampoo all sudsy for a photo-op but it's not that noticeable.

I still was able to get the silliness of horns and swirlys, which is after all the whole point. After this everyone (read Gregory) started standing up, there by making pictures seem inappropriate.


And still in other news. I'm having a baby.

I went for my sonogram at the clinic the other day. Barry came to keep an eye on the children. I think he was just trying to sneak a peek at my fetus' junk-a-talia. But the kids got really restless and I kicked them all out half way through so no one was in the room with me when the tech looked at "that area". I turned away.

Barry made frantic gestures behind my back at the sonogram tech later, and he seems to think he knows the sex of the baby. But I'm still determined to be surprised. Even if it means I have to pick out two names, which is freakin' impossible. It doesn't help that the only suggestion my husband has is Johnny Walter for a boy or a girl. Yeah.... that's what I'm working with. So any suggestions would be wonderful at this point. Just leave them in your comments.

Lastly this is just funny. My Dr. wrote me a script for bi-weekly foot massages, because I told him I was getting foot cramps (another reason I avoid kneeling on the bathroom floor for a half hour every night, and then there's the frogs of course...)

Nice guy, I liked him up until the point where he told me I would have to wait till I was in labor to go to the hospital and get my C section.

FAT CHANCE.

So now I have to take my newly instated Medicaid and find some other, less funny, but hopefully more reasonable Dr. who is willing to make me an appointment for baby removal.

I don't need to be having contractions while someone is trying to jam a needle into my spine, been there done that, the needle broke off in me. I'm all set.